1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rocking chairs, and more particularly to a new and improved safety boot for freely enclosing each rocker of a rocking chair.
2. Prior Art
Rocking chairs have been popular articles of furniture for many years. Unfortunately, human extremities have a way of getting caught between the bottom of the rocker and the floor. This is particularly true of a child, who is playing in the area, while another child, is rocking, although older people also manage to have their fingers and/or toes so pinched.
However, the inventor is unaware of any successful attempts to alleviate this problem, with the possible exception of U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,490 to Bertolet, which discloses a rubber shoe fitted over the rockers, expressly for protecting the floor, according to the patentee. While the rubber shoe, which moves with the rocker, might cushion the force pinching the extremity beneath the rocker, it still does not prevent the extremity from being caught in the first place.
Other patents known to the inventor are even less relevant. U.S. Pat. No. 331,111 to Batton merely discloses a convertible chair which can be mechanically adjusted between stationary, rocking, rolling and inclined positions, and which can be used as a swing, especially for invalids, but offers no protection against pinching of human extremities beneath the rockers. U.S. Pat. No. 956,547 to Smith teaches a rocking chair which is mechanically adjustable to the size of the user, has downwardly curved depending pads at the rear of each rocker to prevent tipping over backward, and is designed to rock on rails on the floor. Once again, there is no protection against injury, especially to a person's fingers and toes being pinched between the rockers and the rails or floor.